cannabis Washington, D.C. -- Matt Skarbeck handed out free marijuana seeds from his personal collection at the D.C. Cannabis Campaign’s seed share Thursday evening. Skarbeck, who said he’s been a professional grower since 1992, had a variety of marijuana strains on hand, some of which he said were worth $40 per seed.“It grows very oddball weed that no one’s ever seen before,” he said of one of the strains.

medical Phoenix -- Authorities can't prosecute Arizona motorists for driving under the influence of marijuana unless the person is impaired at the time of the stop, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in the latest opinion on an issue that several states have grappled with across the nation.The ruling overturned a state Court of Appeals decision last year that upheld the right of authorities to prosecute pot smokers for DUI even when there is no evidence of impairment.

cannabis USA -- The marijuana industry just got a critical boost in its effort to become a massive and completely legitimate business. On Friday, two federal law-enforcement agencies released coordinated statements clearing the way for banks to take deposits from and offer financial services to marijuana producers and retailers without fear of prosecution for money laundering.

To say that this will ignite a revolution in the still upstart industry would be an egregious understatement.

cannabis Rhode Island -- Legislation was introduced on Wednesday that calls for the legalization of marijuana and the establishment of a system that will regulate and tax the drug like liquor sales.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Josh Miller, D-Cranston, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and Edith H. Ajello, D-Providence, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee. The legislation, if it becomes law, would bar anyone under the age of 21 from possessing marijuana. Those of age would be allowed to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow no more than two mature marijuana plants in "an enclosed locked space.''

cannabis Alaska is poised to become the third state to legalize retail marijuana after pro-pot advocates this week cleared the signature hurdle to place an initiative on the August ballot.

The Committee to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska hit 31,593 valid signatures Tuesday, well above the 30,169 signatures required to place the measure before voters. The initiative is expected to appear on the Aug. 19 primary ballot once a final count is certified by the state.

medical Massachusetts -- Seventeen medications during the past four years have failed to quell the haywire electrical signals in Haley Osborn’s brain that send her young body into convulsions dozens of times a day.

The 7-year-old climbs into bed at night with her service dog, Sofie, a border collie mix trained to push an alarm with her nose when the seizures start, summoning Haley’s parents. The dog then gently lays her body over Haley to protect her from hurting herself.

cannabis Colorado -- Charges for all manner of marijuana crimes plummeted in the months after Colorado voters legalized limited possession of cannabis for people over 21.

According to a Denver Post analysis of data provided by the Colorado Judicial Branch, the number of cases filed in state court alleging at least one marijuana offense plunged 77 percent between 2012 and 2013. The decline is most notable for charges of petty marijuana possession, which dropped from an average of 714 per month during the first nine months of 2012 to 133 per month during the same period in 2013 — a decline of 81 percent.

Colorado marijuana dispensaries made huge sales in the first week of legal recreational marijuana. Owners of the 37 new dispensaries around the state reported first week retail sales to The Huffington Post that, when added together, were roughly $5 million. That's a lot of green for Colorado's legal weed.

Colorado, the first state to allow retail recreational marijuana sales to adults age 21 and older, has projected nearly $600 million in combined wholesale and retail marijuana sales annually. The state, which expects to collect nearly $70 million in tax revenue from pot sales this year, won't have its first official glimpse at sales figures until Feb. 20, when businesses are required to file January tax reports, according to Julie Postlethwait of the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.

medical New Jersey -- As news cameras clicked, the parents of a 2-year-old girl with severe epilepsy arrived at South Jersey's first medical marijuana dispensary to buy her an ounce when it opened six weeks ago.But the green buds sold by the Compassionate Care Foundation clinic in Egg Harbor Township ended up being worthless to them, because Vivian Wilson cannot smoke. Brian Wilson of Scotch Plains said he tried reducing the marijuana to an oil for his daughter so she could ingest it - which is how some epileptic children in Colorado take it - but he found out there were no medical laboratories in the state that were able to test it to determine its safety and the dosing.

cannabis Washington State -- As Washington begins to accept applications for the stateâ€™s first regulated recreational pot shops, cries of protest about its plans for medical marijuana are coming from unexpected quarters: the left. A year after voters put their state on track to become one of the only places in the world where marijuana can be legally owned and sold for purely recreational use, the state legislature still has to decide what to do with its rickety, fifteen-year-old medical-marijuana system. With the Department of Justiceâ€™s hawkish eyes trained on the stateâ€”determined to ensure that the drug, which is still illegal under federal lawâ€”remains under strict control, some bureaucrats and lawmakers are afraid that Washingtonâ€™s unregulated medical-marijuana system could doom the whole experiment.

cannabis Colorado -- The coordinated raids of at least a dozen Denver dispensaries on Thursday are the latest federal law enforcement actions to occur in the wake of legalization votes last November in Colorado and Washington states. The coordinated raids in Colorado follow raids that took place in Washington this summer, and when analyzed side by side, the federal actions hint at an emerging pattern in organized pot crackdowns. Characterized by cooperation across multiple levels of government and timed to deliver maximum political effect, this new method of federal interference with the medical marijuana movement sends a clear message to a marijuana http://www.drreefer.com industry still in its formation stages.

medical Phoenix -- Arguing that medical marijuana has been the most effective treatment for their sonâ€™s seizure disorder, the parents of a 5-year-old boy filed a lawsuit here on Monday to force state officials to include marijuana extracts â€” oil-like resins with very low levels of the psychoactive ingredient THC â€” as a legal product under the stateâ€™s medical marijuana act.As it stands, the act, approved by voters in 2010, allows patients to use â€œany mixture or preparationâ€ made with dried marijuana flowers, like brownies. The boyâ€™s parents, Jacob and Jennifer Welton, have been crushing the flowers and mixing them into applesauce, which they say has become difficult for the boy to ingest after brain surgery last year compromised his ability to eat. They do not want to buy the extract, found on the black market, for fear of being arrested.

The attorneys at Connor & Connor Pllc. defend Nevada residents and companies who are facing charges, or need legal advice relating to medical marijuana. In order to assist our potential clients we have provided the following list of frequently asked questions and a summary of Nevadaâ€™s medical marijuana laws.

medical Colorado -- While Denver has become a national leader in how it regulates medical marijuana, an audit released Thursday found serious problems with how the city licenses, tracks and manages the booming medical marijuana industry in the city.

Denver has the most medical marijuana dispensaries in the state â€” more than the number of liquor stores â€” but the city's oversight has been "ineffective" and "inefficient" and poses "substantive risks to the city," according to the report that Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher called "devastating."

cannabis USA -- With 16 states having decriminalized or legalized cannabis for non-medical use and eight more heading toward some kind of legalization, federal prohibitionâ€™s days seem numbered. You might wonder what America will look like when marijuana is in the corner store and at the farmers market. In three years spent researching that question, I found some ideas about the plant that just donâ€™t hold up.

Denver -- Marijuana as a potential tax bonanza has Colorado lawmakers wrestling with a question both sides say they don't know how to answer: How much will people pay for legal weed?The state House advanced a taxing measure Monday to levy a pot tax in excess of 25 percent, a reduction from the 30 percent rate lawmakers considered last week.

Washington, D.C. -- The time is at hand for the Obama administration to stop dithering, to take a clear position on the rights of Washington state and Colorado â€” and by precedent all others â€” to experiment with legalized marijuana.Thatâ€™s what Govs. Jay Inslee of Washington and John Hickenlooper of Colorado are asking the Justice Department to do â€” even though they personally opposed the marijuana legalization measures their voters approved last November.

UPDATE 7:07 pm CT: In the minutes after the shooting, three individuals were shot by an unknown assailant. None of the injuries were described as life-threatening. Approximately seven gunshots were heard shortly before 5pm, less than an hour after the rally's keynote address completed. It was initially reported that two people had been shot, along with one of the individual's pet dog. However, the Denver Police Department tweeted that a third individual, a juvenile, was grazed by a bullet and escorted themselves to nearby hospital.

Denver -- As tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate and smoke marijuana in Denver, police will be out in full force. But it's not the pot smoking they're concerned about at the yearly event, billed as the nation's largest April 20 celebration. Instead, police say they're focused on crowd security in light of attacks that killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon."We're aware of the events in Boston," said Denver police spokesman Aaron Kafer, who declined to give specifics about security measures being taken. "Our message to the public is that, if you see something, say something."

cannabis Montpelier, Vermont -- The marijuana samples were discreetly tucked into a Manila envelope. Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn didnâ€™t ask for them to be brought out until the end of his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee and said he couldnâ€™t pass them around.

Marijuana is illegal, Flynn noted, so he had to be discreet, but he wanted the committee to see what 1 and 2 ounces looked like as legislators consider decriminalizing small amounts. The definition of a â€œsmall amountâ€ matters, Flynn said. He said he supports decriminalization, but 2 ounces is too much.

Two Hardin men will go to federal prison for their activities in Eastern Montana Cannabis, a Hardin-based medical marijuana operation that grew and distributed marijuana to people in the Hardin and Miles City communities.

Colorado -- Entrepreneurs looking to profit from Colorado's legalization of recreational pot use are praising proposed rules that could encourage marijuana tourism.

The task force drawing up regulations to govern the marijuana http://www.drreefer.com/ law recommended late Tuesday that state legislators shouldn't require those purchasing pot to be residents. Reflecting some concerns however, the task force recommended that tourists should be able to purchase only small amounts of marijuana and suggested potentially putting up notices at stores and airports warning travelers not to take marijuana http://www.drreefer.com out of the state.

Olympia, Wash. -- More than a dozen people, many of them medical marijuana patients or providers, testified Monday against a measure to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, an effort to undermine any black market when sale of state-taxed recreational marijuana starts at the end of this year.

The bill, which had a public hearing before the House Finance Committee, would hit dispensaries with a tax equal to 25 percent of their sales of cannabis and cannabis-infused products.

By Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press Source: Associated Press http://www.drreefer.com/ Denver -- Marijuana may be coming out of the black market in Colorado and Washington state, but the drug, at least for now, will retain a decidedly underground feel: Users may not know what's in it.

Less than a year away from allowing pot sales, regulators are grappling with how to ensure that the nation's first legal marijuana industry will grow weed that delivers only the effects that pot smokers want.

Washington, D.C. -- Advocates for the legalization of marijuana http://www.drreefer.com plan to step up their political giving and lobbying efforts now that members of Congress are taking an interest in changing federal drug laws.

The lobbyists say lawmakers who wouldnâ€™t give them the time of day are suddenly interested in meeting with them and introducing legislation following the approval of ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington that legalized recreational use of the drug.

Washington State -- Despite the legalization of medical marijuana in 18 states and the District of Columbia, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) still classifies pot as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, LSD and others.State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, wants to change this. The Senate Health Care Committee today heard Kohl Welles' formal request that the DEA reclassify medical marijuana as a Schedule II substance.

cannabis USA -- Driven by a groundswell of public opinion, Colorado and Washington state last November became the first states in the U.S. to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. That wave of support, it now seems clear, has echoed through the U.S. Congress, which Tuesday formally questioned the federal governmentâ€™s prohibitionist drug policy in the form of marijuana reform bills.

Representatives Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced two separate bills that would drastically change U.S. marijuana laws by addressing what they say are the human and fiscal costs associated with marijuana-related arrests.

medical Massachusetts -- Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy has vetoed a proposed city ordinance restricting the location of medical marijuana dispensaries in Lynn, citing a concern that it might be unconstitutional.

Concerned about possible public safety impacts, some cities and towns have adopted or are considering local bans or restrictions on the locations of dispensaries, while others are waiting until after the state issues regulations by May 1.

USA -- When citizens of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana in November they created a conflict, because pot remains illegal under federal law and anyone who lights up is committing a federal crime and could theoretically still be arrested for it. After Colorado passed the referendum, Governor John Hickenlooper said the implementation of the law in his state would be a â€œcomplicated processâ€ and he warned residents not to â€œbreak out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly.â€

While it seems unlikely that the federal government will make much of an effort to arrest pot users in Colorado or Washingtonâ€”Obama has said he has â€œbigger fish to fryâ€â€” the tension between federal and state laws on marijuana remains. Just last week, an appeals court rejected a suit that sought to lower the classification of medical marijuana under federal drug laws.

USA -- For a muscular agency that combats vicious drug criminals, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration acts like a terrified and obstinate toddler when it comes to basic science. For years, the DEA and the National Institute for Drug Abuse have made it all but impossible to develop a robust body of research on the medical uses of marijuana.

A pro-marijuana group lost its legal battle this week when a federal appellate court ruled that marijuana would remain a Schedule I drug, defined as having no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse. The court deferred to the judgment of federal authorities, quoting the DEA's statement that "the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies.... To date, such studies have not been performed."